“Schoenith is one of those iconic family names that is almost synonymous for hydroplane racing in Detroit,” said David Williams, executive director of the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum near Seattle, Wash. “Even though there were other powerful Detroit teams, it was the Schoenith family that really was the lynchpin of boat racing in Detroit.”

The patriarch of the family, Joseph A. Schoenith, made a fortune in the '40s with W.D. Gale Inc., a Detroit-based electrical contracting firm. With his fortune, he and his wife Millie entered into power boat racing in the late-1940s, winning four national championships and two Gold Cups, and built the family’s best-known legacy, the Roostertail, 100 Marquette Drive, in 1958 on the Detroit River and “Roostertail Turn” of hydroplane racing in Detroit.

Millie and Joseph A. Schoenith in an undated photo (courtesy image)

Lee Schoenith, the eldest son of the family, was the first driver of the family’s first boat, named Gale, in 1950. While managed by the family, the boat was considered part of the business for promoting the company, or so they thought.

The family gained notoriety with their second boat, Gale II, starting in 1953.

“Detroit was the undisputed capitol of powerboat racing for about three decades, from the late teens to the early-50s,” Williams said.

Joseph Schoenith, according to Williams, purchased the state-of-the-art boat in response to the world record-holding SLO-MO-SHUN IV, owned by a team in Seattle, debuting in 1951.

During the mid-50s, Detroit-Seattle was a racing rivalry comparable to the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, according to Williams. But, instead of winning the Commissioner’s Trophy, there was, and still is, the APBA Gold Cup.

And after Seattle dominating for years, Lee won the Gold Cup in 1955. But it was also a time when the Internal Revenue Service started cracking down on Unlimited race boat owners, questioning the sport’s status as a legitimate business expense.

A PowerPoint presentation on family's racing put together by Jerry Schoenith (courtesy image).

According to IRS documents, Gale owning the boat with its name on it should not be considered a business expense. Simply having its name on the boat was not enough to make it a business expense.

The IRS used five scrapbooks containing clippings from newspapers, magazines, trade publications and race programs from 1951 through 1955 to argue that the Schoeniths were being promoted more than Gale, so the hundreds of thousands of dollars Joseph was writing off as a business expense were not applicable.

“We think that even a casual reading of the clippings leaves the overwhelming impression that Joe owned and sponsored the boats and that they were driven by his daring son, Lee,” reads a copy of the legal documents filed Sept. 15, 1960. “It is clear from this evidence that the corporation received no substantial publicity from the Gale racing program.”

The Gale boats were purchased by the corporation, but they were all registered with the APBA in the name of Joesph Schoenith, who was listed as the owner in racing programs. Joesph said the registration was in his name because the Association had a rule that no corporation could own or race a boat.

The IRS ruled that racing should not be considered a “business expense.” Joseph ended up having to pay a substantial six-figure amount in back taxes. To continue racing, Joseph had to find corporate sponsors for the Gale boats.

He did, and in 1964, his youngest son, Jerry Schoenith, started driving the Gale V, as Lee suffered from back pain.

Jerry, then 21, was considered a young celebrity in the boat racing community. He was daring, compatible and, at times, dangerous.

The first year was one wreck after another,” Jerry, who received “Rookie Driver of the Year” in 1964, told MLive. “I was shocked I made it through.”

But the wrecks didn’t stop after the first year. At 140 miles per hour in June 1967, Jerry was almost killed during the World Championship hydroplane trials on the Detroit River. According to a June 30 article from the Detroit News in 1967, a wave saved his life by throwing him back in the boat.

Williams said Jerry entered hydroplane racing during a dangerous time. Prior to the mid-60s, the boats were extremely large and usually traveled around top speed of 100 miles per hour. While still dangerous, not even close to 120-140 miles per hour without seat belts.

“We had four drivers, including a driver from the Schoenith team, killed in a two-week period and almost a dozen drivers killed in a decade,” Williams said. “And that was right when Jerry was coming up as a driver.”

During 26 seasons of racing, the Schoentihs won 27 races and four National Championships through 1975, according to the Hydroplane & Raceboat Museum.

Jerry retired in the late-60s due to the same back problems that his brother Lee had retired from. Joseph retired the Schoenith/Gale team in 1975, but that didn’t stop the family’s contributions to the sport.

Lee, who died Aug. 20, 1993, at the age of 64, headed a committee that revamped the rules and formed the Unlimited Racing Commission.

Jerry Schoenith on July 14 at the 2012 APBA Gold Cup in Detroit.Michael Wayland | MLive.com

Jerry went on to become executive secretary of the Unlimited Commission in 1980, the owner of the Miss Renault hydroplane boat, which won the world championship in 1983, and the founder of the Automotive Thunderboat Association in 1987, which lasted one season. He also continues to attend the annual race in Detroit, and organized the “Detroit River-River Cruise” in 2003 in conjunction with the races.

Tom, Jerry’s twin older brother by eight minutes, continues to own the Roostertail, which was named for the spray of the hydroplane boats spray when racing. The Roostertail continues to be one of the prime spots to watch the boat races in Detroit – particularly thanks to the infamous Roostertail turn.

During last year’s races, the Roostertail also held a kickoff dinner for 250 volunteers of the APBA Gold Cup in an effort to support the event.

“They’re just a boat-racing family,” said Detroit River Regatta Association Event Director Mark Weber during the 2012 APBA Gold Cup in Detroit. “They’re one of the reasons why this place has been around for 95 years.”

The 2013 APBA Gold Cup is scheduled for July 12-14 on the Detroit River. And while not as prominent as they once were, fans should expect to see the Schoenith family represented at the annual event, which they helped build.